Steering Box Woes

[moorefc]

Have had a couple redhead boxes in different Econos...Great experience, and since they are local was able to go there and dialogue with them. They inspect boxes since they rebuild all to their specs...They test them under load, so a leak would be a surprise....
That said there is a loooong thread on ford-trucks forum about redhead called something like finally a steering fix, and they do a very good job. Perfect? Don't know, since some people write in with some surprises....They do a LOT of commercial business and have been building their improved boxes for many years...
Their boxes are much more precise than the OE boxes. Smaller bearings closely toleranced in my 95....Maybe the case for all Econos, but go read the thread...
If you have other steering problems the box won't solve that, but that is another story on the primitive, crappy, but extremely durable suspension on 2 and 4wd E series....but I digress....

[Cyrull]

So I did get a response from Redhead when I did a follow up, they offered a new box so long as I shipped the "faulty one" back. I sent them the same pictures I posted, they didn't comment on it or suggest that the dealer was taking my for a ride or anything like that. Just ship it back and you get a refund. I opted to get a full refund for the following reasons:

1. They aren't local to me, shipping is a pain and I'm already out several hundred dollars. I wanted to see if I could drive down to their shop in hopes they would cover install labour and do a direct swap, drop off my old one box and check out some up fitters. The dealer strongly recommended that I should not use the vehicle with the leak. Again, not sure how legit that is.

2. The Ford Dealer said that my old core is not fixable (a bit suspect as it only has 44k on it) if that is true I am not going to get my $225 USD Refund when I send the old part back to Red Head. If I wanted to try to get that core refund back I would still have to ship my old steering box and the red head box back, which again is going to cost me money seeing as I'm in Canada. Probably around $100+ for postage with no guarantee of the $225 and my van sitting at a Ford Dealership for who knows how long. I will be asking for my old core back, will take photo and let you decide, I wouldn't know what to look for unless it was very obvious.

3. If the dealer screws up and I have problem I can literally drive down there and get some sort of recourse (It's a 10 minute walk from where I live if the van doesn't work lol).

If Redhead tells me there isn't anything wrong with the part then I will talk to the dealer, if they do tell me that the box is faulty I am going to see if they can give me some money for all the labor expenses I had for install/uninstall and diagnoses of the leak as I would think their QC should have picked this up.

Anyways the dealer says the part will be in next week so I will drop by before then for the "show this thing is busted and where the leak is".

Will update when I have new information.

Thanks again for everyone's input. I just want my van running again.

[arctictraveller]

I installed an Orylly reman that got sloppy after a couple years. I replaced it with a Red Head, and had trouble out of the box. It would not return to center, so they told me to adjust it. Thier lititure says any adjustment will void the warranty, but I assumed it would be ok since they told me to do it. It took a few tries but ultimately, the steering was much better. Fast forward about 20K miles, and it's beginning to get sloppy. I called them a couple days ago, and was advised to tighten it back up. WTF? Your not suppose to ever touch the adjustment and they have me randomly playing with the adjustment? I started asking about a new one, and got the same story about them having to inspect it before a warranty would be offered( totally understandable) and before they will ship a replacement. Or, I could buy another so I would have a ready replacement when I replace it, ship the old one back, and hope they agree to give my money back. Add in even more shipping costs and suddenly things are getting really expensive, not to mention that I'm on the road. I'm not hopefull I'll get any better deal from them though. I'm still convinced they make a superior product but getting warranty relief without spending nearly as much as the original box seems impossible. At least my Orelly box had a life time warrenty, no questions asked, at any store. I got a full refund.

[1der]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

I installed an Orylly reman that got sloppy after a couple years. ............Fast forward about 20K miles, and it's beginning to get sloppy........

Key words here::: FAST and FORWARD ........
Your 20k miles is like 200k in normal human mode. I have followed you, or at least tried to

[JWA]

I'll be following this thread looking for the resolution----can't empathize enough with you Cyrull---I know this is the very definition of "frustrating". Not only does money come into play but the aggravation and down time is just insane.

I know they're convenient but if even just a bit unscrupulous that's not a good trade off IMHO.

This dealership warrants careful watching, possibly triggering a hard effort to locate a more user-friendly repair outfit. Along with a few others I'm shocked they installed a customer part, that they claim its faulty and yet have their cure in their own parts isn't a surprise at all.

I do find it odd this dealership won't accept the previous box as a core---when my original '03 box was returned there was no inspection etc---just an immediate and full refund of the core charges. That was a relief as it was $250 USD.

I will say the posted photos don't really show any sort of huge fluid leak but that's not disbelief (at this point) the box isn't leaking---I'd want to see it while the PS pump is turning, the steering wheel moved back and forth.

I sincerely hope you prevail in this Cyrull.

[1der]

I realize it is a disappointment. To me, something here seems wrong.

As others have pointed out - show me the leak in the new unit while it is operating - wipe clean before starting, fluid filled properly, someone else operating the steering wheel so I can see it with my own eyes. The picture of the “leak” did not convey what was leaking. The drops on the ground came from where? Were the two pics taken at the same time because it seems to me there would be fluid streaks on the box? Even if it turned out to be a small leak, I would make the drive down to RedHead and get it resolved (even if I had to stop every 120 miles to add some fluid). There are many reputable shops in Portland to do this repair. I can dig out a name, or one of our Portland members can get you connected. And there are many people driving with very leaky steering boxes, with virtually dry squealing steering pumps.

The core - this is raising a huge red flag for me - the old steering box has leaky seals, what about that renders the core unqualified for refund of core charge?? Really?? The unit is not cracked, it was not destroyed in an accident - it is leaking from likely dried out seals that I would HOPE are replaced in ANY rebuilt unit. I do not think you mentioned experiencing excessive steering play, so the gears are not toast. Nothing here indicates a rejectsbke core. I can understand if they do not repair them themselves, but this core being rejected?? No.

No warm and fuzzy feelings for me right now around this dealer. I would get my van back to my house with the redhead box in it and reassess the situation without pressure from the dealer. You are ten minutes from the dealer, not two hundred miles. Other than inconvenience, is there something else driving this repair into urgency?

[Youngster]

Add some UV tracer to the steering fluid, drive it home. Get the black light out and see exactly where the leak is coming from.

[arctictraveller]

Red head is about three hours from Vancouver BC. Why not take a drive down there and let them inspect it on the spot? The round trip cost will be less than shipping both ways. Plus, if you're there, it will be harder to reject your claim if you can point to the source of the leak. UV dye will make it easy to spot, and I'd do that first thing before even returning to the dealer.

[Cyrull]

Update:

I picked the van up today, they got the ford reman part and everything is installed and working great. I do notice the difference in steering as I felt the Redhead box felt a bit tighter vs the now "looser?" ford box.

The dealer did in fact take my old core back despite the service guy saying it wasn't salvageable? Perhaps I misunderstood the information that the dealer couldn't rebuild it themselves but I was told it was "toast". Which I assumed meant I'm not going to get my core refund money back from RH.

The photo's that I posted earlier are from the trip I took, and the photo of the actual RH Box was from the tech working on the vehicle which was about two days later when I noticed the leak. I have the tech notes which I can scan but it said they saw a very small leak coming out of where they assume is a small crack. Assuming this was very small as the tech notes indicate, I would still think it would be safe to drive down to Red Head for them to check out, which I was advised by the dealer not to do. Regardless that would have meant taking a day off and 6 hours of travel time + border wait times + whatever the labour time would have been.

I only picked the ford dealer as it was literally beside where I live and at the time it was just a easy part swap. They did knock off $100 from my last bill which helps a bit I suppose.

Attached is the photo of the Red Head Gearbox. The tech circled where the leak was coming from. I posted the tech notes.

I am going to pack up the box and send the box back to Red Head, I will update if they confirm or deny the leak and look at next steps. Right now I'm just happy to have my van back in running order.

Thanks again for everyone's in put it is greatly appreciated as this all uncharted waters for me.

[arctictraveller]

Glad your back on the road, it's unfortunate, but I'm not sure what you could have done differently. Let us know what Red Head says.